UNIVERSITY OF GUYANA

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
COURSE OUTLINE

ACADEMIC YEAR 2022/2023

ECN 1100- INTRODUCTORY MICROECONOMICS

1. COURSE DETAILS

Semester: 1

Level: Undergraduate Year 1

Credit 4
hours:
Prerequisit CXC or CAPE Economics, Mathematics, Line graphs.
es:
Teaching Lectures and Tutorials
Methods

Lecturer(s): Mr. Jason Allicock, Mr. Jamal Bahadur and Ms. Dianna Arjune.

Contact Jason.allicock@uog.edu.gy, j.kristofferb94@gmail.com,

diana.arjune@uog.edu.gy
details for
Lecturers:

Lecture Mr. Jason Allicock- Thursday 9:15am-12:15pm. (online)

Mr. Jamal Bahadur- Thursdays 4:15pm-7:15pm (online)
times and
Ms. Dianna Arjune- Tuesdays 6:15pm-9:15pm (online)
location:

Zoom Group 1
Jason Allicock
Lecture
Email: Jason.allicock@uog.edu.gy
Links: Thursday 9:10am-12:15pm

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 Class Link:
https://zoom.us/j/93269427900

Group 2
Dianna Arjune
Email: diana.arjune@uog.edu.gy
Tuesday 6:10pm to 9:10pm
Class Link:
https://zoom.us/j/93294092201?
pwd=REJjSzhtQnBRS1BQeC9ad3hUb1IrUT09
ID: 932 9409 2201
Passcode: 182320

Group 3
Jamal Bahadur
Email: j.kristofferb94@gmail.com
Thursday 4:10pm to 7:10pm
Class Link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85499898049?
pwd=QlV0TWk0OXVxUy9MM0RKb3VYanFhZz09
Meeting ID: (854 9989 8049, Passcode: 1100)

Tutor(s): Mr. Jamal Bahadur, Mr. Chaitram Mohamed, Ms. Safrana Cameron, Ms.
Diana Arjune, Mr. Seagall Sooklall, Mr Sean Pemberton and Mr. Orsino
Jones.

Tutorial Mr. Jamal Bahadur-Tuesdays 5:15pm-8:15pm

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85499898049?
times and pwd=QlV0TWk0OXVxUy9MM0RKb3VYanFhZz09
rooms: (Meeting ID: 854 9989 8049, Passcode: 1100)

Mr. Chaitram Mohamed

Mondays 6:15pm-7:15pm Meeting ID: 783 3136 9273
Mondays 7:15pm-8:15pm Meeting ID: 751 3790 7122
Saturdays 9:15am-10:15am Meeting ID: 710 3673 8504
Saturdays 10:15am-11:15am Meeting ID: 762 0950 8665
Saturdays 11:15am-12:15pm Meeting ID: 799 9219 1044

Ms. Safrana Cameron-Mondays 7:15pm-8:15pm, Thursdays 12:15pm-

1:15pm and 4:15pm-5:15pm and Fridays 9:15am- 10:15am and 4:15pm-
5:15pm. https://us05web.zoom.us/j/93261014566?
pwd=WS9VYi9ib01QUTdXaS8wRWw1SStDZz09 (Meeting ID: 854 9989 8049,
Passcode: 1100)

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 Ms. Diana Arjune-Wednesdays 6:15pm-9:15pm
https://zoom.us/j/98276824778?
pwd=ZkIrWFhqQUdRa0ZhdFhPMjdFeGJLUT09
(ID:982 7682 4778, Passcode:161835)

Mr. Seagall Sooklall-Thursdays 5:15pm-8:15pm and Fridays 5:15pm-

7:15pm.
https://us05web.zoom.us/j/89539942947?
pwd=TFFRS0s5VkFOay9vQW9iMkVvWFNZdz09 (Meeting ID: 895 3994 2947,
Passcode: S6gVFN)

Mr. Orsino Jones- Mondays 6:15pm-9:15pm and Wednesdays 6:15pm-

8:15pm.
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82308835000?
pwd=aDQvdkxJQ0dVN2hDTmwxR2luQjJnQT09

Mr. Sean Pemberton- Fridays 6:15pm-8:15pm and Saturdays 9:15am-

12:15pm
https://classroom.google.com/c/NTQ5OTI4OTMwNzE0?cjc=pkyscdf

Departmen Ms. Karen Rollox

t Secretary: 658-1009

Head of Dr. Dianna DaSilva-Glasgow

Departmen 627-8119
t:

Course Mr. Jason Allicock

Coordinato 682-0274
r:

Course See Section 6

Content

Modes of See Section 8

Assessment
:

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 1. COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course covers the basic foundation concepts in microeconomic theory necessary for first
year university students. The principles and theories discussed within this course is also very
applicable in our real life decision making process which offers students the opportunity to see
first-hand how individuals, firms, markets, and governments allocate scarce resources to satisfy
society’s unlimited wants.

2. COURSE GOAL
The primary aim of this course is to introduce students to microeconomics theory and policy,
tools and methods. Students will be exposed to important topics such as, consumer choice
theory, the theory of production and costs, and the impact of market failure and government
intervention to name a few. It is expected that within this highly interactive course students
should be able to benefit from active classroom discussions, class-based exercises, and
feedback from lecturers and tutors. At the completion of the course, students should be able
understand how microeconomics is applied to real-world problems, thereby developing a
microeconomic mindset when thinking about issues that are relevant for practice and policy.

3. COURSE OBJECTIVES
The principal objective of this course is to equip each student with a basic understanding of
microeconomic theory at Level 1, that is, the standard first year University level. While this
course is complete in itself, when taken in conjunction with ECN 1200 (Introductory
Macroeconomics) in Semester II, it provides the equivalent of a full one year (Level I) University
Programme in Introductory Economics.

4. LEARNING OUTCOMES
The course begins with an introduction to economics and its foundations. Conceptual and
methodological questions such as "What is economics? What is microeconomics? What is the
main problem in economics? Why it is necessary to study economics will be addressed. It also
studies the key principles of private business and government operations in the micro product
and factor markets, as well as the role of the government and politics in the market.
Throughout this course, the theory will be supported by practical examples in an attempt to
enlighten students of the applicability of economics to everyday life in Guyana and around the
world.

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 5. TEACHING METHODS
Method Details Estimated
hours/week
Lectures Lectures will be undertaken to deliver the core topics. 3
Tutorials The course will be supported by student involvement 1
in tutorial worksheet topics covering weekly lectures.

6. COURSE CONTENT

Week / Date Lecture # Reading

Requirements
Weeks 1 Nature and Scope of Economics and See list of
essential Mathematics for Economics recommended
 What is economics? What is texts,
microeconomics? Observing
and explaining the: economy;
explaining and interpreting
observations; economic models
 Using economics for public
economic policy; positive
versus normative economics.
 Graphs: reading and plotting of
graphs; calculating of gradient;
applications of gradient in
economics.

Week 2  Essential Mathematics for

Economics cont’d
 Basic Algebra: variables, solving
simultaneous equations.
Percentages: calculation of

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 percentages; application of
percentages in economics.
 Simple Calculus: first order
differentiation; applications of
differentiation in economics.
 Presentation of Data:
construction and reading of pie
charts, bar graphs etc.

Week 3-4 The Foundations of Microeconomics

and the Introduction to the Supply
and Demand models. Elasticity of
Demand and Supply

 Scarcity, choice and

opportunity cost; economic
interaction: consumer decisions
and producer decisions; scarcity
and choice for the economy as
a whole; production
possibilities.
 The Production Possibilities
curve; increasing opportunity
costs, decreasing opportunity
costs and
constant opportunity costs;
market economies, command
economics and the role of
prices.
 Demand and the demand
curve; change in demand;
movements along versus shifts
in the demand curve. Supply
and the supply curve; changes
in supply; movements along
versus shifts in the supply
curve.
 Market equilibrium;
interference with the market
prices: price ceilings and floors
and related problems.

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  Calculating Price elasticity of
demand and supply; classifying
price elasticity of demand and
supply; revenue and the price
elasticity of demand.
 Difference in the price elasticity
of demand and supply:
Explanatory factors.

Week 5 Assessment 1
Week 6 Demand and Consumer Behaviour
 Utility and consumer
preferences; the budget
constraint and utility
maximisation; willingness to
pay and the demand curve.
 The market demand curve;
consumer surplus; the budget
line and indifference curves.
 Deriving utility maximization
using the indifference curve
and budget line; differences
and similarities in the
cardinalist and ordinalist
approaches.

Week 7 The Supply Curve and the Behaviour

of Firms
 The individual firm and its
profits; deriving a firm’s supply
curve; profit maximization.
 The market supply curve; shifts
in the supply curve; producer
surplus and profits.
 Theory of production: marginal
product, average product and
total product; diminishing

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 marginal returns.

Week 8 Costs, Production and Firms

 Types of firms; the short-run
and costs of the firms;
profit/loss rectangle; break-
even and shutdown points.

 The long-run and costs of firms;

capital expansion and
production in the long-run;
economies of scale and scope.

Week 9 Production, Factor Employment

Decisions and Perfect Competition
 Isoquants; isocost lines; cost
minimization; changes in the
relative prices of factors.
 The competitive market; profit
maximization in the short and
long-run; long-run competitive
equilibrium; economies and
diseconomies of scale.
 Explanations of movements
that eliminate economic profits
and losses in the long run in the
perfectly competitive firm.

Week 10 Assessment 2
Week 11 Imperfect Competition: monopoly and
monopolistic competition
 The nature of monopolies;
underlying causes of
monopolies; pricing and output
decisions and profits.
 Price discrimination. Efficiency
in the competitive market

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 versus monopoly.
 Monopolistic competition:
characteristics of the market,
pricing and output decisions in
the short and long-run.

Week 12 Imperfect Competition: Oligopoly and

Labour Market
 Oligopoly: characteristics of the
market, pricing and output
decisions.
 Game theory and kinked
demand curve.
 The demand for labour; the
firm's employment and
production decisions; market
demand.
 The supply of labour; the shape
of the labour supply curve;
labour market equilibrium;
wage differentials and effects of
labour unions.
 Physical and financial capital;
demand and supply of physical
capital; economic rent.
 Practical examples of the labour
market at work.

Week 13 The Role of the Government

 The role of the government re:
Market efficiency and market
failure; reasons and remedies
for government failure.
 Characteristics of public goods;
free-rider problem; avoiding
free-riders problems.
 Other corporate governance
problems: asymmetric
information, moral hazard and

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 adverse selection.
 Positive and negative
externalities (MSC vs MSB);
global externalities; remedies
for externalities.

Revision and Final Examinations

7. READING LIST
The following text books are recommended to cover the topics required to complete this
course, but students are not restricted to these texts only. Using the course outline as a
guide, students can refer to any recent edition of Introductory Economics texts of which
quite a number of them can be found in the University Library.

1. Baumol, W and Blinder, A. Economics: Principles and Policy (10th ed.) South-Western
College Pub., 2005 2. Begg, G., Fisher, S. and Dornbush, R. Economics. McGraw Hill, 1999
2. Case, Karl E. and Fair, C.R. Principles of Economics (7th ed.) Prentice-Hall Inc., 2003
3. Ekelund, R.B and Tollison, R.D. Economics. New York Harper Collins College
Publishers,1998
4. Hyman, D. Economics (2nd edn.).Richard D. Irwin Inc., 1999
5. Lipsey, Richard. Introduction to Positive Economics. Weidenfield and Nicholson, 2000
6. Lipsey, R, Purvis,D. and Steiner,P. Economics. Harper and Row, 1999
7. Samuelson, P. Economics. McGraw Hill Inc., 1998
8. Samuelson P. and Nordhaus W. Economics (18th ed.) McGraw Hill Inc., 2004
9. Sloman, John. Economics. Prentice Hall Inc., 2000
10. Taylor, John. Economics (5th rev. ed.) Houghton-Mifflin Company, 2006

*If there are more recent editions available of the recommended texts, students are
advised to use them. Earlier editions may be used in consultation with the lecturer to
ensure that the content is appropriate today.

8. MODES OF ASSESSMENT

Mode Weighting Deadlines Guidelines and submission

requirements
Class Quiz 20% Week 5

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 Mid-Semester 20% Week 10
Exam
Final 30% Week 14
Examination
(Part 1)
Final 30% Week 14
Examination
(Part 2)

9. GRADING SCHEME
A = 75% to 100%
B = 65% to less than 75%
C = 55% to less than 65%
D = 45% to less than 55%
F = Less than 45%

10. IMPORTANT UNIVERSITY REGULATIONS

- Plagiarism
- Supplementals
- Re-sit period
- Class cancellations
- Attendance at exams

Please refer to ‘Department of Economics Student Resource Pack’ for more

information.

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